Mirage: the Rouge Shinobi of the Sand
by puppetking1
Summary: this is the story of Mirage. some of you may recognize him as the cearactor from burning earth. believe it or not i am his creator. i will be telling you his back story.
1. Chapter 1

The story of Mirage

Chapter 1: the child

It is a dark night, and a sandstorm is raging fiercly outside. Inside a woman is screaming in a back room. 3 men are waiting in the front room. Two sit calmly watching the third man pace anxiously.

"Kotaro, relax. The Healer will do what she can. Pacing back and forth will do no good for any one. It will only wear a groove in the floor." Said one man

"He's right Kotaro. Akane will be fine."

Kotaro paused a moment and stared at them dumb-founded for a moment as if processing who they were the spoke "Hideaki, Hitoshi I appreciate that you are here… but you aren't fathers. You don't know what I'm going through here…." His voice trailed off as he looked towards the back room where another scream from his pregnant wife erupted.

Hours passed along with countless more screams of agony. Each scream shriller than the last and with each one Kotaro became more anxious. Then finally after a blood chilling scream there was silence.

Kotaro and his two team mates waited with Waited breath for the healer to come out. Finally after what seemed like an eternity she emerged from the room carrying a small bundle of sheets… but something was wrong… the bundle that carried his son was silent. Kotaro may never have been present at a birthing before; however, he did know that a silent baby was not a good thing. He rushed to the old healer and looked at his son expectantly, but the child was silent. Kotaro looked helplessly at the old woman who simply shrugged and said "He's alive. And near as I can tell perfectly healthy. I don't know why he isn't making a peep… very strange…."

All three men let out a pent up breath that they didn't realize they had been holding. Kotaro breathed easily for a moment then… "…. Lady Chiharu… how is Akane?" the old woman looked at him for a moment with a sullen face.

"Lady Chiharu how is my wife!" this was not a question anymore he was demanding an answer.

"Akane is alive… but the child has taken much out of her. For now you must take the child. The others are doing what they can, but it is no guarantee that she'll survive."

Kotaro staggered backwards. His heart fell straight through his stomach and continued through till it hit the floor. Hitoshi sprang from his chair and caught Kotaro. He gently guided the man back to a chair, then walked up to the aged healer and took the child from her then went and knelt next to his comrade

Minutes turned to hours, but it made little difference when each second felt like an eternity. Random people whose faces and names Kotaro once knew came and went all whispering condolences and congratulations. None of this registered with Kotaro however. His mind was elsewhere, he was too worried about his wife to care what others were saying to him. Finally, after countless eternities passed Lady Chiharu emerged from the room.

Kotaro jumped up and ran to Lady Chiharu looking at her expectantly.

It suddenly occurred to Kotaro that this Chiharu is ancient… she was considered old when his parents were born… what was he thinking by asking her here? It's a miracle the Chiharu didn't die from all of the stress… but too late. What's done is done. Besides, she was the best healer in the village.

Then out of nowhere the old woman smiled and said "Akane will be just fine. She should make a full recovery, HOWEVER you MUST keep her in bed. I know Akane is not the type to willingly rest. But if she does not she could well hurt herself and do grievous damage.

Kotaro yelped with joy and burst into the room to see his wife, then before taking two steps in ran out and seized his child from Hitoshi, much to the laughter of his comrades, and sprinted back to the room where his love lay resting.

After a short time Kotaro was dragged out of the room by Lady Chiharu. Kotaro looked helplessly at his friends who couldn't help but burst out laughing at his plight.

Hideaki spoke first "well well well isn't this a fine sight! One of the greatest shinobi of the Sand bested by a woman older than anyone can recall!"

Chiharu turned to Hideaki "I may be old but I am stronger than any five of you young fools!" then turned and walked back to the room were Akane rested.

Kotaro's comrades both embraced him. Hitoshi spoke first

"So what are you calling your child?"

Kotaro laughed "Well… we were thinking we would name him Mirage"

The other two looked at each other then back at Kotaro stunned

"What? Is that not a good name?"

Hitoshi spoke again "No! It's not that! We thought you and Akane wanted to name him after his grandfather…"

Kotaro laughed.

"They are." A deep voice resounded from the door. It was Kotaro's father Ichiro Iwao. "before I retired I was known as the Desert Mirage because I could easily disappear in the blink of an eye."

And so the child, Mirage, was born. Little did anyone realize however that Mirage carried a great destiny on his shoulders and would one day have the hopes of the world resting on his shoulders.

End chapter 1


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: the lost boy

Mirage was now old enough to enroll himself in the ninja academy. He had started school not 3 months prior and was already a star student. One day Mirage came home and found a note from his parents saying:

"Mirage your mother and I have been sent out on a mission. We will be gone for a few days. If you keep working as hard as you are now, then maybe one day we can all go on missions together! Wouldn't that be wonderful? Mirage we are so proud of you.

We love you son

Dad & Mom"

Mirage wasn't surprised. This must have happened a thousand times… he wasn't worried. What did surprise him is that Hitoshi or Hideaki hadn't come by to watch him. "Maybe they are out on a mission to" thought Mirage, "O well. I'll manage" he smiled to himself "I have the hole house to myself… this'll be fun." Mirage walked up the stairs to his room and started his home work. Once he had finished he ran outside to his friend Masa's house. Such was the routine for the next the days

Masa lived quite a ways away, but it was always worth the walk. Masa was his best friend, and they always thought of new and more devious ways of prank people and having fun. Many of the villagers joked that they were really two halves of one hole because more often than not they could finish each other's sentences.

On the third day after his parents left on their mission mirage was feeling overwhelmed by his school work and his chores. So he figured skipping one day won't matter. After dropping his things off at his house he headed straight for Masa's house.

Mirage finally could see the smoke rising from Masa's house. He paused a moment and hoped with all his heart that Masa's mother Ayame was baking her apple dumplings. He loved them so much. The dough was her special secret. No one else could make apple dumpling like her. Just the thought of them made Mirage's mouth water.

Mirage crested the final hill and looked down at Masa's house. It took him a moment too realize what he was seeing. The smoke he had seen earlier… it was not Ayame baking… it was Masa's house in flames! And there were men all over the place, but none of them were trying to put out the flame. There was yelling and shouting then two figures darted from the shed that the men had begun to surround. It was Ayame and Masa. The men closed around them and pulled the two apart and killed Masa when he tried to fight back. Ayame's scream sent a chill up his spine and raised the hairs on his neck. He stood in horror watching this episode. He couldn't believe his eyes! What is going on! He screamed inside his head. He couldn't understand it at all! Why had they killed his friend! What were they doing too Ayame!

Suddenly his fear over powered him. He turned and run. He ran as fast as he could. He reached his front door, bolted through it, and slammed the door shut behind him barricading it as best he could.

Mirage could feel the seconds ticking by. His mind was racing "what is going on? Why were they doing those things? Why did they kill Masa and his family?"

His thoughts were interrupted by the front door rattling as if someone was trying to get it. There came a loud pounding on the door and the frantic voice of his father trying to get in. Mirage unblocked the door and flung the door open to see his parents bewildered faces. After the shortest of pauses he ran into their arms, trying to explain through frantic sobs all that he had seen.

"Mirage, slow down. We can't understand you." His mother crooned softly

"Son, take a deep breath. It's ok. Just slowly tell us what happened." His father said calmly

And so Mirage slowly explained all that happened. When he had finished his father rushed out of the house to see if he could help Masa's family… but they all knew he was too late. The purge had reached the sand village.

Hours later Kotaro returned with a sullen look on his face. He stated what everyone had already known "I was too late. They were all dead, and their house burned."

Kotaro put Mirage in bed and, without a word went downstairs to talk with Akane about what should be done.

Mirage was awoken just before dawn by a loud crash and scream that was cut short in the middle.

He ran out of his room to see what was happening. He was already on edge for the day's events; he was scared out of his mind.

He ran for his parents' room. When he got there, he opened the door. What sight his eyes beheld then made his insides churn and his head grow light.

Both his parents were dead and a score of dark figures standing around the bed of his murdered parent. The figures spun around, followed by frantic whispering. Mirage could barely make out words suck as "kill" and "quickly".

He bolted away with the figures darting after him. Just as he reached his front door he felt a hand seize him and pull him away. He was flung to the floor in the center these men who had murdered his parents. His head felt light once again. The room began to spin faster and faster, his vision narrowed to pin pricks.

Mirage awoke some time later, he looked around at the clock and saw the time. It was noon. He realized that he had been out for at least six hours. He looked around him and realized quiet calmly that he was surrounded by the corpses of the men who had killed his parents, but more than that they had all slain each other with their own weapons.

Mirage got up and walked out of his house. He paid no attention to where he was walking, he didn't even care. By the time he realized where he was, another ninja was shaking him yelling at him. He couldn't understand why this stranger was yelling, nor could he comprehend the meaning of the words he was saying. Mirage simply stared at the man with dead eyes.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: The Beginning of the Journey

Mirage had wondered around aimlessly as if in a daze. After wondering around for what had been unknowable amount of hours Mirage was finally brought back too reality by his stomach growling loudly. He looked around and paused when he realized that he was standing at the back of his house. He walked round and hesitated as he pushed open the front door. The corpses of his parents and their murderers still lay where they had fallen. He walked over to the pantry and opened the doors. There wasn't much in there, but he pulled some instant noodles off the shelf and made those. After he finished he small meal he looked around and thought to him self "there is nothing he for me, my family is dead, and their attackers are also dead. He didn't know how they had died, but he was afraid that he would be blamed, so he decided that it would be best to leave and take whatever he could find and carry with him. Mirage walked into his parents' room and skirted around the corpse of his mother. He walked to the closet where he knew that they kept their ninja gear.

He stood dumb founded by what he saw. In side the closet was an entire room full of equipment, scrolls, puppets, medicinal herds, as well as his parents armor. Everything was perfectly organized and labeled with exactly what it was; he guessed that his mother had done that. After he collected himself, he walked through out the room looking for a bag to use and he found one at the far end of the room. He picked it up and tossed it out into his parents' room. He then began to look through all or the scrolls and was amazed at every thing he saw. He decided to leave most of them, but he took numerous charka scrolls as well as all of the scrolls that contained various jutsus that he could learn. He took a few summoning scrolls as well. He didn't have the slightest idea how to use them, but he would figure it out; these were his fathers' puppets, and he refused to leave them behind for some outsider to steal. He put everything out by the bag but didn't pack it yet because he may have to unpack and leave some things behind to make room for things that he would need.

He when back into the room and stood in front of his parents armor wishing he could take it with his but knowing that he could not. He looked up at his fathers' mask that he wore on missions; it has an Oni mask, not an anbu black ops mask, his father detested Anbu, no, this mask was different. It was mostly blue, however the features that where on the mask were painted whit to contrast brilliantly. There were four protruding fangs each one as long as his middle finger and curved out towards the sides of the mask. The mouth of the mask was closed, but the two holes in the nose from which breathing was made possible. The eyeholes had a fine black mesh that both protected the wearers' eyes and kept others from seeing what your eyes looked like, all the wile allowing the wearer to see out perfectly fine. He decided that he could not leave it. He reached up and took it down and put it with the other things.

He went once more into the room and grabbed a few more things; his fathers weapons, aster and void each were six inches long, very thin, and made out of an alloy that was called star steel, which he had obtained with on an assignment to the village hidden in the snow. Aster was shaped similar to a kunai except that it was much longer. Void was shaped similar to a two-pronged fork, except that the two prongs parted to for a v-shape. The also took his mothers sword. These he placed with the other items as well.

He made one final trip in and took a few other things out such as; food pellets so that he wouldn't have to stop every time he got hungry, as well as a tarp and rope so he could make a tent to sleep in at night. He took rain gear as well as a fire starter.

After he had compiled all of his parents' belongings that he would be bringing with him, he began the arduous task of packing it all away. Once he had finished he looked out the window and saw that it was well past sun set and figured that there was no point in leaving now. He would wait till tomorrow. Besides he was tired and he still wanted to eat. So he put his bag by the front door and went into the kitchen to make one last meal. After he had eaten he skirted the dead bodies once more and went to his room to lie down on his bed to get some sleep. No sooner than his head hit the pillow and he was asleep.

He woke the next day and went down stairs hoping that the previous day had just been a terrible dream, but he was broke back to reality by the circle of corpses that had been his parents' murderers.

Sullen by the stark reminder of his situation, he made a light breakfast and went to his parents' room on last time. He looked at his mothers and fathers armor, and looked through what he knew had taken a lifetime to collect. On his way out he notice some thing that he had not noticed before. It was a small scroll with his name on it. He picked it up and opened it. His eyes widened as he realized what it was. It was a little from his father to him. He didn't read all of it, only skimmed through, but he knew what it was. It was his clan's history. He quickly sealed the scroll again and placed it on the top of his bag.

He hoisted the bag to his shoulders and looked at what had been his home for the past 12 years. Then turned slowly and walked out with his heart weighing heavily in his stomach. He didn't know how he would survive, where he would go, or what he was going to do. But he know that he would do what ever it took to survive, and that meant mastering all of the jutsus that were on the scroll, as well as learning every thing that he could about the world and how to survive.

He had been a student at the ninja academy before, now he was an orphan. He had no way of sustaining the life he had known, and had no desire to be a part of the village that had force his clan to live outside the walls of the village, yet still expected them to serve as if they were part of the village.

And so Mirage left all that he knew behind, his house, his village, everything. He would travel around, and learn everything he could. He would become stronger and wiser. And maybe one day he would be strong and wise enough to understand why these things had happened and stop them from happening to some other person.

And so Mirage's journey began.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: What's Past is Prologue

Mirage had walked all day and had covered more ground than he thought he could have. He didn't have to stop once except to relieve him self and to have a food pill. This was Mirage's first lesson: one may be able to live off food pills indefinitely, but it would never satisfy the hunger one felt.

He ignored the rumbling in his stomach however. The food pills gave his body enough nourishment to sustain him as long as they had to. And so he walked all day and did not stop until sun set. He laid out his bedding and pulled out the scroll that his father Kotaro had written.

He knew that it was the history of his clan, however, he never learned much about his clan before because his parents said he was too young. He decided that after all that had happened that he was now old enough to learn it.

He opened the scroll and began to read:

"Mirage if you are reading this than your mother and I are most likely dead. I know this because such is the fate of our clan. Read every thing on this scroll because it has valuable information on it. And do not lose it because this scroll will show you the truth about our clan when the world will tell you naught but lies.

Hiroyuki Yutaka founded our clan, well before shinobi became what they are today. Our clan was originally formed to hunt and kill creatures known and oni. Oni are so powerful that they would make ever the nine-tailed fox demon seem like a child's playmate. Our clan hunted and killed these oni demons for millennia. And with each oni slain Hiroyuki Yutaka grew in strength. For each oni the Hiroyuki slew he would drain the demon of its power. Over time Hiroyuki noticed that he had begun to develop unique powers, for example he was physically much stronger than any one he met. He noticed that his eyes and ears had become more acute, and that he was slowly becoming that which he was hunting.

The others around him noticed as well, but they said nothing because he was the head of the clan it was not their right to speak out against the patriarch. As time passed however, his appearance had begun to change. His eyes and hair had taken on a reddish tint and the skin was becoming thicker, tougher and coarser. He had begun to tower over people whom he had been the same height as only a year ago.

This change had begun to worry even him, and so he left instructions with his most trusted retainers that should he become more oni than man in actions, that they where to slay him without a seconds thought. But as the years went one he noticed something else. He was not aging like a human either. He had obtained the longevity of an oni demon as well. After realizing this he decided it was time that he slew that last oni and ended this cycle before he too became more oni than human.

And so it was that Hiroyuki Yutaka hunted the last oni. But when they did battle Hiroyuki realized that if he slew the last oni that he would be slaying part of him self with it. And so rather than killing the oni, he sealed it with in the mask that I bare.

Over the years the power of the oni has faded from the mask and leeched into the blood of the clan. This power carried with it a curse however, those of our clan have all died out except for one male and one female, and they may only have one child, and once had they shall die once the child can take care of him self.

This curse does have a reason however. The powers of the oni demons have seeped into out blood making us powerful adversaries. Our clan possesses a powerful ocular jutsu called the Onigan or Eyes of the Oni. In time you will learn to control it and activate it at will, but until then it will only activate when your life is in peril.

The power of the Onigan allows you to break the mind of your enemies and turn them into your loyal meat puppets that will obey you every command. This power does not come lightly. You must not use this power to inflict pain and suffering upon the world. It must be used for protecting those you love, and even then, it should not be used lightly. Once you break a man's mind if you give it back to them they WILL die. You become their sole purpose for existence. And you must not use this power to better you life either for you will surely become miserable.

Mirage, my son, you must take care of yourself now. I am sorry that your mother and I left you, but we did love you. And if you feel the need to leave, take what you can with you. It is now your inheritance, though it is doubtless that you will feel a need to leave this village, in the future, should you wish to return, the kazekage will welcome you back. I wish you the best of luck in you life and your travels.

Your father,

Kotaro Yutaka"

He stared at the scroll blackly for a moment, hoping there was more, but there was not. Finally he rolled the scroll up and placed it in his bag and lay down. His mind was reeling from what he had read.

Mirage found it difficult to sleep that night, but when sleep found him, it was a restless and troubled sleep.


End file.
